The body of a 16-year-old boy who was believed to have drowned was discovered in a section of the Lamaha Canal commonly known as ‘the Blacka’ early yesterday morning.
Nigel Braithwaite who lived with his grandmother, siblings and other relatives at 45 Public Road Agricola, was a student of Apex Academy and was last seen by his relatives on Friday morning when he left for school.
The lad’s grandmother, Eudora Braithwaite, could barely control her tears when this newspaper visited. She said that she was at home around 6.30 on Friday evening when she received the news of her eldest grandson’s death.
“The neighbour next door said she saw the group of boys coming in the yard and they told her that he was swimming and he drown, and his father and some others went to look for him,” she said.
The search team’s efforts on Friday night bore no fruit and the only sign that the boy was somewhere around was his school uniform and his schoolbag.
The child’s relatives continued their search early yesterday morning and his body was finally recovered some time after 8 am.
The boy and his friends went to swim in the canal where several other children have died in the past.
“I don’t know how come he did that, because he usually came home at around 5.30 the latest every day, and that’s why I found it very strange that he hadn’t come home early yesterday [Friday],” the lad’s grandmother to whom he was very close said.
The woman said relatives were subsequently informed that the child frequented the area with friends, but was not sure whether he went to swim, since according to her, he could not swim.
“He was a very good child and many days me and him would be home alone in this house and watch TV; he was my own little company,” the woman said as she burst into tears.
She said the child’s mother, Sonia Martin, who lives in Venezuela, was yet to be informed of her son’s death and relatives were still making efforts to contact her.
Nigel Braithwaite leaves his three sisters as well as other relatives to mourn his passing.
